Not just for kids: a field trip to MOBOT's tree canopy climb

St. Louis Public Radio's Maria Altman gets some tips from her tree climbing guide, Jon Richard. He's the owner and founder of Vertical Voyages and will be taking as many as 12 people up at a time at the Missouri Botanical Garden.

“Being up in a tree canopy 30 to 50 feet up in the air is definitely a unique experience and one that I’d highly recommend,” Voss said.

She got the Tree Canopy Climb off the ground at the Garden and Shaw Nature Reserve last year in celebration of the U.N.’s Year of the Forests.

“We wanted to give people that opportunity to have a unique different physical perspective on trees, but also a deeper understanding and honestly a different emotional connection with trees,” she said.

Voss says the Garden can teach why trees are important; from cleaning the air to helping manage storm water; but people are more inclined to care, Voss says, after going up in one.